July 28, 2007

Good News

If you're a retool of a spin-off of Tenchi fan, that is. Funimation has licensed the Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club series for a 2008 release. A couple fansub outfits only managed to get the first episode released (even after all this time). Now we get to see how this new (and likely inferior) Misao turns out.

The animation is a sub-par adaptation of a niche sci-fi RPG. Anyone who's even remotely interested in the anime will have likely already grabbed the fansubs from 2005. I don't see ADV being able to add anything to the title that will draw back fans who have moved on after the game series was prematurely terminated. I don't find the character designs particularly enjoyable, and there are plot holes you could swing a galaxy through. That's because the plot of the anime doesn't include any material from the third episode of the game series. If they're hoping for impulse buys, I don't think this is going to be it.

1
Keep in mind that it's a niche market, in the end. As few people played the games, that's still a tremendous potential market compared to the average anime. And if you want to talk about a company that's done well with game-to-anime adaptations, that's ADV, no? (Not that it's personally enjoyable - I got stuck working on FFU, compared to which the Xenosaga anime is practically a Ghibli film!)

It ain't art, and it ain't what I'd rather people were watching, but they DO buy this stuff - at least enough of them to make it worth doing.

I still wouldn't expect to see much if any bump from gamers crossing over into the anime market for this title. The number of units sold with each new episode dropped almost geometrically, while a substantial portion (majority even?) of the fanbase that held on through all three episodes called the anime a dud.

The last episode of the game moved a little over 300,000 units (IIRC). Would any percentage of that sales number be enough to cover licensing and production costs?

3
Indeed. Even a tithe of that number would make Xenosaga a great seller. Couldn't claim to know about the licensing costs, but ADV's production costs are pretty damned low - and it's their studio, so they either put 'em to work on something or lay them off (too ;p).